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The elder Bradfords erupted.
“Why would you do such a thing?”
“How could you?”
“Don’t say another word. We’re getting you an attorney.” This last came from Daddy.
Eric seemed to shrink further in his chair. Nicole’s face was ashen as she studied her oldest son. “What were you thinking?”
Damon’s shoulders jerked in a belligerent shrug. “It was just something to do. We’ve been so damned bored here. There’s absolutely nothing to do on this backwater island.”
Chief Thompson had been standing quietly in the corner, observing the proceedings, but at this, he stepped forward. His jaw was granite. “Do you have any idea how many resources you wasted this summer? How many lives you risked by tying up the fire department with these nuisance fires? We’re the first line medical response on this island.”
Tears were tracking down the younger boy’s face now. Damon seemed to be dialed to a hundred percent defiant.
Their parents appeared to have the good grace to be horrified.
“How could you do this?” Doug demanded. “You’re supposed to be a better influence on your brother.”
“I shouldn’t have to be my brother’s keeper. Why did you have to bring us to this place? Taking us away from our friends and everything there is to do?”
For all his bluster about a lawyer, Doug Bradford seemed to finally register that they were fucked. “We’re happy to pay for damages. Both of them will be grounded until the end of time, and certainly they’ll do community service to help make up for everything.”
Carson was back to looking conciliatory. “I appreciate that, Dr. Bradford. I do. But it’s not that simple. There are the criminal charges for the house they nearly burned down, and the truck they torched. Not to mention the destruction of the OBX Brewhouse a couple days ago.”
At this declaration, both kids went sheet white.
“We didn’t have anything to do with any of that,” Damon insisted. “We were at the house with our parents the night the tavern burned.”
“Can anybody other than your parents verify that fact?” Carson asked.
“Actually, yes. We had company over for dinner that night,” Nicole said. “We were all playing games until right before they left around ten.”
“We’ll need their names and contact information to verify. But that doesn’t clear you of the rental fire at the beginning of the summer or the vehicle fire a few weeks ago.”
“We didn’t burn either of those.” Damon’s expression turned speculative. “But we know who did. That was what gave us the idea in the first place.”
“If you know anything about either of those fires, you’d best speak up right the hell now, son,” Carson warned.
“I want immunity.”
“This isn’t the movies, kid. You’re not getting jack shit when you’ve already confessed. Now, unless you want to go down for these other two fires, I’d start talking.”
Apparently realizing his little gamble wasn’t going to get him anywhere, Damon lost some of the bravado. “Our rental is a couple of doors down from the one that burned. We saw a guy sneaking out of the house after the guys who’d been there that weekend had already left. I noticed because he looked older than the dudes who’d been staying there, and I thought it was a little weird. Then we saw the smoke.”
“Why didn’t you call 911?” Nicole’s voice had gone strident.
Another shoulder jerk. “We wanted to see what would happen. Nobody was there. The hotties cleaning the place had left.”
Caroline and Gabi. I wanted to plant my fist in the little shit’s face.
“Can you describe the guy you saw?” Carson asked.
“Big guy. Broad shoulders. Dark hair.”
Which could describe about fifty percent of the men on the island at any given time.
“Anything else?” Thompson prompted. “Anything about what he was wearing?”
